<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>but not only me by setgo</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25255087">but not only me</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/setgo/pseuds/setgo'>setgo</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Persona 4, Persona Series</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - The Magnus Archives Fusion, Canon Typical Horror, Gen, Oneshot, Past Child Neglect, Statement Fic, fellas is it gay to spill your tragic backstory to a guy you've only saved twice</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 06:01:02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,604</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25255087</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/setgo/pseuds/setgo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Statement of Yu Narukami, regarding an abandoned TV station.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hanamura Yosuke &amp; Narukami Yu</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>32</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>but not only me</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>for some context this is. a tma au where yu's a member of the Velvet Institute (serves the eye) and yosuke's some guy who got dragged in paranormal shenanigans. (probably teddie-related). they've met a couple times and yu's saved yosuke from beefing it or something like that</p><p>the start of a beautiful romance. i didn't tag it as souyo because at this stage they're just getting to know each other</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p></p><div class="statement">
<p></p><div class="row">
<p></p><div class="column middle"><p class="act">[TAPE CLICKS ON.]</p><p class="act">[THE SOUND OF METAL CLANKING, TWO PAIRS OF FOOTSTEPS WALKING AGAINST CATWALKS. YOSUKE AND YU ARE CROSSING THROUGH THE TV WORLD.]</p><p class="char">YU</p><p class="dlogue"><em>(casually)</em> So how much do you already know about the entities?</p><p class="char">YOSUKE</p><p class="dlogue"><em>(taken aback at YU's offhand tone, then quickly recovering)</em> Uh… like, the “Beholding” and stuff like that?</p><p class="char">YU</p><p class="dlogue">Yeah, like that. Common fears getting categorized into entities - well, entities is sort of a misnomer, in my opinion. They’re not people. They don’t have wants or anything like that. It’d be like saying gravity is an entity. Gravity doesn’t exactly <em> want </em> to push things down, it just... does.</p><p class="act">[SILENCE. YOSUKE ISN'T SURE WHAT TO SAY IN RESPONSE.]</p><p class="char">YU</p><p class="dlogue">Sorry, I’m not used to talking this much. I probably don’t make much sense.</p><p class="char">YOSUKE</p><p class="dlogue">Um, it’s cool. I think I get the idea?</p><p class="dlogue">So how’d you get into… all this stuff, then? You, uh, don’t exactly seem <em> in</em>human.</p><p class="char">YU</p><p class="dlogue">…It’s kind of a long story.</p><p class="act">[MORE SILENCE AND WALKING. NEITHER BOY IS PARTICULARLY ADEPT AT CONVERSATION.]</p><p class="char">YOSUKE</p><p class="dlogue"><em>(hesitantly)</em> We’ve… got some time?</p><p class="char">YU</p><p class="dlogue"><em>(seeming amused) </em>…Yeah, sure.</p><p class="act">[HE CLEARS HIS THROAT.]</p><p class="dlogue">Statement of Yu Narukami, regarding… <em>(a long pause) ... </em>his childhood.</p><p class="char">YU (STATEMENT)</p><p class="dlogue">My parents weren’t home a lot when I was younger.</p><p class="dlogue">Busy people, with important jobs that left me at home. I didn’t have any siblings, either, so usually it was just me and a babysitter. Those never stuck around for long though, I think my parents didn’t want anyone important finding out how much time I spent alone. Better to cycle through new ones, only tell them what they need to know. It went on like that, for a while. I saw one or the other every once in a while, in between business trips.</p><p class="dlogue">Eventually it got to the point where I was old enough to take care of myself. As long as I kept my grades up and stayed out of trouble, I would… be fine. Sometimes tutors would visit, make sure I was staying on top of my schoolwork.</p><p class="dlogue">At the time, I thought I didn’t mind. Other kids would complain about their parents being overbearing or embarrassing, so I figured I had it better in comparison. </p><p class="act">[A FAINT CLANG IN THE DISTANCE AS YOSUKE SHUFFLES IN HIS SPOT. HE'S GIVING YU HIS FULL ATTENTION.]
</p><p class="char">YU (STATEMENT)</p><p class="dlogue">Then, right at the start of sixth grade… It was a clear afternoon. The city we had moved to was really pretty, lots of street-side garden boxes on the way back from school. The cherry blossoms had stopped falling by then and piled up into these neat little puddles I liked to pass through, and there was a cute cat that slept next to a morning glory bush I’d walk by every day. </p><p class="dlogue">It was a gray tabby cat, with the softest fur I’d ever felt and a very friendly disposition. I think… yeah, it’s owner kept it well fed, but it’d still let me feed it whenever I passed by.</p><p class="dlogue">I was in a pretty good mood since my mom was home for a whole week, but… I had just done badly on an English quiz.</p><p class="dlogue">When she asked about school, I showed her the quiz, and she got… mad. Said I wasn’t trying hard enough, said that I was throwing away everything they did for me. Called me ungrateful.</p><p class="dlogue">And that exact second, I had this realization: “She doesn’t care about me. Nobody does.”</p><p class="char">YOSUKE</p><p class="dlogue">That's…</p><p class="char">YU (STATEMENT)</p><p class="dlogue">For an eleven year old, it was a weird thing to think. But I knew it was true. I still do.</p><p class="dlogue">I threw a tantrum for the first time in my life, screaming and crying, and then I stormed off out into the street.</p><p class="dlogue">It was dark out, that was the first thing I noticed. I had only ever lived in cities at that point, so having no lights <em> anywhere </em>is weird. And there were no stars either. I knew it was weird but I was so upset that, somehow, I didn't really care.</p><p class="dlogue">The second thing I noticed was the fog. A yellow fog that was slowly creeping down the street and enveloping everything, covering all the empty shells of buildings so I couldn't even see past it.</p><p class="dlogue">There were these yellow ribbons that stretched out into the fog, glowing faintly and wrapped up like presents. On and on, and I didn’t know where I was so… I followed them. It reminded me of the flowerbeds I’d pass on the way home.</p><p class="dlogue">I kept walking, on and on, for what felt like forever. The city around me was totally empty, every light turned off. It was getting emptier, too, like I was delving into some abandoned ruin. But the ribbons kept accumulating into a road of yellow fabric, leading me up to a TV station.</p><p class="char">YOSUKE</p><p class="dlogue">What?</p><p class="char">YU</p><p class="dlogue"><em>(briefly breaking out of the statement)</em> Not exactly what you'd expect, isn't it.</p><p class="char">YU (STATEMENT)</p><p class="dlogue">But all of those ribbons pointed me to a TV station. “MAYONAKA TV,” that’s what it said. Every window flashed with the, the static that screens have when nothing’s airing,  you know?  Multicolored stripes that, at first, didn't mean anything at all.</p><p class="dlogue">But as I got closer, I… saw me. On the screen. The color bars were twisting and shaping into <em> me. </em></p><p class="dlogue">Me and my parents, their faces completely covered. No features, no hint of emotion. Just standing there in their best clothes and me in the center. There was a buzzing noise from the screens, growing louder and louder and swelling over the nothingness of the hollow world.</p><p class="dlogue">I was alone. Just me and the other me on the screen, staring out the screen. My mom had her hand on my shoulder, just like every photo we ever took together, but… she wasn’t actually touching me. I could see it, a quarter of a centimeter of distance so she wouldn’t actually have to be near me.</p><p class="dlogue">So I… stood there. For a long time, watching the ribbons pulse into the TV station and cover the screens. I stood there for so long my eyes started burning - um, not literally.</p><p class="dlogue">The ribbons… snaked all over the screens, covering my parents’ non-faces and enveloping the whole station, choking it. And it was choking me, too, lifting me up and stringing up my entire body and pulling.</p><p class="dlogue">...It was so cold.</p><p class="dlogue">I think I forgot how to breathe, then. But I didn’t really mind.</p><p class="dlogue">I knew that nobody would miss me.</p><p class="act">[QUIET BREATHING. YU IS LOST IN THE MEMORY.]</p><p class="char">YU (STATEMENT) (CONT'D)</p><p class="dlogue">I really did think I would die there, but then I… heard purring.</p><p class="dlogue">Unlike everything else in that world, it was warm. I opened my eyes and started flailing around, screaming for help and hoping that anyone was out there at all. Then something cut through the ribbons and I landed on the concrete.</p><p class="dlogue">When my vision cleared, a woman with bright white hair and yellow eyes stood in front of me. </p><p class="dlogue">And I was holding that cat.</p><p class="char">YOSUKE</p><p class="dlogue">Wait. Wait. The <em>cat?</em></p><p class="char">YU</p><p class="dlogue">I found out the cat’s name was Nabi later.</p><p class="char">YOSUKE</p><p class="dlogue">And that was… enough? Against all that… stuff.</p><p class="char">YU</p><p class="dlogue">I guess so. <em>(a faint smile can be heard) </em> He is a <em> very </em> cute cat.</p><p class="char">YOSUKE</p><p class="dlogue">And that lady, that's um... that was Margaret, right? From before?</p><p class="char">YU (STATEMENT)</p><p class="dlogue">Mhm. Margaret looked down at me and said: <em>(imitating MARGARET) </em>"You're far too young to be in a place like this." Then she took me by the hand and led me through the empty city, and before I knew it, I was back on my street. My real street, with the neighbor’s lights on and everything.</p><p class="dlogue">Nabi ran back to their owner’s house, and Margaret handed me a business card with a phone number on it. Plain blue with yellow text - I still have it.</p><p class="act">[ANOTHER PAUSE.]</p><p class="char">YU</p><p class="dlogue">Statement ends.</p><p class="dlogue">How was that? I’m not used to being the one who gives statements. I hope it made sense.</p><p class="char">YOSUKE</p><p class="dlogue">Uh… it was…</p><p class="dlogue">Yeah, I, um, got the picture. So that was…</p><p class="char">YU</p><p class="dlogue">The Lonely. Fear of... you know. I was a prime target for it.</p><p class="char">YOSUKE</p><p class="dlogue">Messed up that they’d target a kid, though.</p><p class="char">YU</p><p class="dlogue">Entities don't really have a sense of morals.</p><p class="char">YOSUKE</p><p class="dlogue">...Still messed up.</p><p class="act">[MORE WALKING, THEN.]</p><p class="char">YOSUKE</p><p class="dlogue">So is that why your hair’s…</p><p class="char">YU</p><p class="dlogue">Huh?</p><p class="char">YOSUKE</p><p class="dlogue">You know. Uh... <em>(he pauses, desire to know vs. social politeness warring it out in his head) </em></p><p class="dlogue">…Gray?</p><p class="char">YU</p><p class="dlogue">Oh. No, this is my natural hair color.</p><p class="char">YOSUKE</p><p class="dlogue">What?!</p><p class="char">YU</p><p class="dlogue">Yep.</p><p class="char">YOSUKE</p><p class="dlogue">…Man, you’re - you’re not <em> joking </em>, are you?</p><p class="char">YU</p><p class="dlogue">There are probably pictures if you need proof. </p><p class="char">YOSUKE</p><p class="dlogue"><em>(clears throat, red-faced)</em> So you’ve been working with the Velvet Institute ever since then?</p><p class="char">YU</p><p class="dlogue">Not exactly. Margaret took me back to my parents and said she found me lost… which isn’t technically a lie, I guess. My mom was upset at me for running off, but since she had to keep up appearances she just sent me to bed.</p><p class="dlogue">Once I was fourteen, I figured I could try and apply for a job, so…</p><p class="dlogue">I called the number, and she answered.</p><p class="char">YOSUKE</p><p class="dlogue">…Oh.</p><p class="char">YU</p><p class="dlogue">This is my fifth year working with them. I prefer the Eye over the Lonely, that much is for sure. Margaret and Theo are nice to me.</p><p class="char">YOSUKE</p><p class="dlogue">I…</p><p class="dlogue">Yeah. </p><p class="char">YOSUKE</p><p class="dlogue">Um.</p><p class="dlogue">For… for the record. I… I’d miss you. You’re a pretty cool guy from what I can tell.</p><p class="act">[A SOFT CLANGING OF METAL UNDERFOOT AS YU STOPS WALKING. HE PAUSES, UNSURE OF HOW TO RESPOND.]</p><p class="char">YU</p><p class="dlogue"><em>(with a genuine smile)</em> Thank you, Yosuke.</p></div></div></div>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>this is cringe sorry but i was thinking about what avatars each wildcard would serve.</p><p>obviously Minako/Minato would be end, Yu would be marked by the Lonely but serve the Eye, and Joker... would want to serve the Stranger maybe? he seems into clowns but i dunno if they'd actually take him. he might do a little entity banquet and try a get a piece of everything</p><p>also the css for this skin is like. a total mess cobbled together from a script skin so please don't ask me how it works... i don't know. hopefully i can get my hands on a better one soon</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>